Country Led Initiative

The Country-Led Initiative

The roots of the Indonesian-Swiss Country-Led Initiative to improve the effectiveness of the Basel Convention extend back to the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (2008) when the President of the COP9 called for a process to reaffirm the objectives of the Ban Amendment and to explore means by which its objectives might be achieved. Following the President’s statement, Indonesia and Switzerland invited key players to discuss in an informal, dynamic and non-dogmatic manner those issues related to the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes, especially to developing countries, contrary to the overarching objective of the Ban Amendment.

The results of the CLI process formed the basis of an omnibus decision adopted at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (2011) which included actions for parties, Basel Convention Regional and Coordinating Centres, the Secretariat and other stakeholders to take in seven key areas to improve the effectiveness of the Basel Convention. These included the facilitation of entry into force of the Ban Amendment, developing guidelines for environmentally sound management (ESM) and providing legal clarity with respect to the interpretation of certain terminology used in the Convention.

The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (2013) expressed its appreciation for the work undertaken by Parties and others to improve the effectiveness of the Basel Convention, and through its decision BC-11/1 on Follow-up to the Indonesian-Swiss country-led initiative, mandated further work in support of this objective.

BC-10/3: Indonesian-Swiss country-led initiative to improve the effectiveness of the Basel Convention

Further strengthening the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres

The Conference of the Parties,

Recognizing that the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres play an important role in training, technical assistance and awareness-raising and that this role should be strengthened,

Noting that many of the proposals included in the recommendations of the country-led initiative ultimately involve initiatives that are best taken at the regional and subregional levels and that the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres are ideally placed to take them forward,

Hence identifying the need to expedite the ongoing review and strengthening of the operation of the centres,

Requests parties to integrate the following activities into the plan for the development of the Basel Convention regional and coordinating centres for the implementation of the Basel Convention:

Convene regional meetings to inform parties about and assist them in ratifying the Ban Amendment or national measures to prohibit imports;

Disseminate guidance on environmentally sound management through their training, assistance and awareness-raising activities;

Develop a programme and deploy activities to bring actors together, to provide training and to coordinate joint actions to combat illegal traffic, with the support of the Secretariat and other stakeholders as appropriate;

Consult parties within their regions and identify the real needs of vulnerable countries and the difficulties that they face in relation to unwanted imports of hazardous wastes;

Take action to secure political and public engagement with the work of the Convention;

Seek further collaboration with other agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector;

Seek out and mobilize relevant expertise in other relevant international and regional organizations.